Head Hunter

Cylinder head buyer's guide.

The potential to make power is relative to the flow of air going through your engine. After you have bolted on a killer exhaust and high-flow intake, how do you get more power out of your engine? Process of elimination - that's how! With all the bottlenecks removed from the intake and exhaust, you can now open up the heads and really see some noticeable power gains.

But, do you port and polish the stock heads, bolt on some aftermarket heads, or port some aftermarket heads? This would all depend on if you want the combination to pass smog, and how much power you care to build. Some engines don't have smog-legal aftermarket heads available for them, so porting the stock units may be your only choice. Maybe you don't care about smog and you're building the biggest engine you can make with your bottom end. Either way, here is a list of cylinder head manufacturers and some cool heads that will give you ideas about what is available on the market.